Come Again Another Day
by Thefreakoutsideyourwindow
Summary: "Aw man, this sucks." An eight year old boy stands in the wreck of a burning city, diseased corpses hidden within rotten houses and looks up at the open sky, as if the overcast clouds and gentle rain is to blame for what his world has become. (Zombie au, gore & violence).
1. Prologue

It starts with a viral video, as all trends seem to do so nowadays. The sounds are muffled, and it looks like someone filmed it with a potato, but what can be seen catches like a wildfire and has authorities become more alert when gathering news, a cloak of anxiety draped upon them and whispering in their ears. For in that video, as much as can be clearly seen, a child is on the ground, writhing, as adults, presumably the child's parents, tear him open with a kitchen knife and feast on his innards.

The video is censored as soon as possible, news teams reporting it as cultist activity, something only the truly depraved would do. But Sasuke has seen the video before it was censored on youtube, saw the shaky footage that was filled with gasps and growls and sobs until the meagre 37 seconds cut off into black.

Everybody is talking about it at school.

Teachers curb the gossip as much as they can, restrict internet access and websites when they can, have assemblies on the issue when they can, and yet they cannot stop it. The video. The rumour. The _fear._ Who's next? Everyone asks, many think it's a hoax, and would laugh it off with a bit too much unease in their voice. But time passes, other news happens, and everybody forgets about it for a little while.

And then it happens again.

Except this time, this time, it happens on live TV. They're just showing the local evening news, and Sasuke's whole family is sat down on the sofa, his father half watching while reading his paper, as his mother knits and he and his brother scroll through their phones. And then there's a scream on set, and they all look up, Fugaku's brows creased in confusion, Mikoto's gave flickering from the expressions of the anchors. And then a man that looks far too much like a corpse bursts onto the set, covered in gore and blisters and faeces-

And lunges at them.

Smashes the woman's head in on the corner of the table.

Tears the man's throat out with his teeth, blood flecking the camera.

Agonized screams sound throughout the studio as he feasts on them and-

Black.

Black just like the ending of the video one month ago, and the Uchiha household stares at the screen in shocked silence, whatever else they were planning to do forgotten. After a carefully measured silence, Fugaku announces, "Bed." and both of the boys stand, dazedly making their way to their rooms. Sasuke hears Mikoto stumble off and throw up into the toilet while Fugaku paces restlessly.

That night, they sleep with their door triple locked, their windows shut and covered with cardboard, and Sasuke sleeps in the same bed as his brother. And if his brother's grip is a little too tight and Sasuke shakes in spite of the shared warmth, neither brother says anything.

…

It isn't any better by morning.

The footage is everywhere despite the government's attempts to calm the public. Everyone is panicking, scientists are struggling to explain the events, and everyone is scared. Sasuke and Itachi still go to school, but this time their parents walk them, stances wary and gazes cautious, as if they could be taken away at any moment like the presenters last night. The news station has still not yet thought of a convenient enough story to cover what happened last night, the replacements sitting warily where the others died, where faint bloodstains can still be seen.

The school is in chaos.

Naruto, for one, is uncharacteristically quiet and subdued, sporting more bruises today that Sasuke has ever seen him have (what else is to be expected when he wrestles with every other kid in the school for fun?). But this time he is withdrawn, not boasting about his wins, and conveniently buttons up his collar from where some purple peeks out.

Sakura is filled with nervous energy, tittering to and fro between Ino and Sasuke, pointedly ignoring Naruto. Whether it is out of disdain or worry or something else, Sasuke does not know. Instead she rambles on about how more and more people are getting sick, discussing all of the systems as if she is the doctor she already wants to be.

But when they go to class and Iruka is not there, no one says a word. Instead, they all stay silent, keeping to the irrational fear that if nobody says it, then he'll be back tomorrow. They take their lessons as normally as they can, though with heightened stress this time. They aren't allowed outside for breaks as much, and police start guarding the perimeter. More and more teachers and older students are disappearing from the school from sickness, and Sasuke feels a deep unease weigh on his shoulders as dread makes itself at home in his belly.

Their substitute teacher doesn't last a week.

A day afterwards, the country is in a state of epidemic.

School is being shut for the time being, parents and the remaining teachers and councillors determining it a place too dangerous, for diseases can spread quickly. So they stay home, Fugaku doesn't go to work, and they do the only thing they can do. Watch television.

They watch as foreign medics make themselves at home in their land, determined to save lives as the patients spill into the hospitals like a tsunami. They watch as more and more police clash with random citizens, as citizens attack each other and end up having their heads bashed in by batons. They watch as everything starts falling apart, as the news becomes more and more scarce, as a pandemic is announced, as everyone is more afraid of what's happening than a nuclear war.

And then their TV is no more.

They turn it on one morning as they settle around it like a camp fire, Mikoto clinging to her steaming cup of tea and Fugaku clenching a week old newspaper and Sasuke hugs a cushion, Itachi remaining sitting solidly. A press of the remote and the screen comes up blank. No channels, not a single one. Sasuke checks his computer but the internet has gone down, and he can't contact his friends anymore.

Stress settles into the household more so than ever, and conversations are tense. Itachi has bags under his eyes and lines on his face that don't seem to go away as easily anymore. Mikoto slips up when knitting more often and stares out of the cracks of their boarded up windows, looking at nothing. Fugaku just paces, and paces, and paces. And Sasuke? Sasuke worries. They aren't allowed to go outside anymore. The only time when they're allowed to do that is to get food and this is a quiet and tense affair indeed. They all go in the car together, Mikoto and Fugaku running in the store and out as fast as they can, tending to stick to canned foods, ones that will last. Like they're expecting this to last, to not go away. But still, even though they've never been closer before (mostly in terms of proximity), times are still tense.

And then the power goes out.

This is something they had been expecting, at least, so they take out the candles they had been stockpiling and light them when it gets dark. They would often open the windows to let some clean air through, until they hear thumping and muffled screams from the house next to theirs, and then they don't open the door anymore, not for anything.

They store any and all water they can, expecting that to be cut off soon. They bathe infrequently and eat less. This doesn't stop Mikoto's worried glances to the pantry. But there are moments, though, moments where everything is not so bad. They all played scrabble past midnight one night, Sasuke ending up making false words as Itachi bumped him on the head with his dictionary. Mikoto would laugh and Fugaku would sneakily exchange some of his letters with Itachi's. They'd have some nights where they'd all sleep together in the living room and tell funny stories until they fell asleep. Sasuke once got so bored he even asked his mother if she could teach him how to knit. Delighted, she started showing him the basics and couldn't repress a laugh in time to see Itachi doing the same, and at a much swifter rate. It almost gave a feeling of normalcy.

Then Mikoto got sick.

It starts as a slight cough, Mikoto dismissing it as a lack of water and they carry on their day as normal. Or rather, as normal as they can. That night she throws up her meagre meal. Fugaku is concerned – she'd met someone in the store the last time they went – and so he shows his concern by putting her away in their room and keeps they boys out. For days. And days. He comes out for food, looking more and more haggard each time. Sasuke wants to intervene, and Itachi does as well, so he keeps Sasuke back, for all of their sakes.

Then Fugaku stops coming out as well.

Sasuke occasionally hears groans of pain from the room, wheezing sounds and the splash of vomit. The stench gets so bad one night he and Itachi silently agree to roll up towels and put them under their door. Sasuke pleads and pleads for Fugaku, for Mikoto, for his parents to come out of the room, to say something, _anything_. But instead, he is greeted with silence and is too afraid to disturb them if they are sleeping, and too afraid to go in if they are not.

So they wait some more, watch as their supplies dwindle, as their reserves of water get less and less, as they get less and less sleep and more and more stressed. And then, one night, Sasuke is woken by a loud _**thump**_ from across the hallway. He looks to his side and finds the bed empty of his brother. Worried that his brother may have collapsed, may have gotten sick, Sasuke tiptoes out into the hallway and, upon finding it empty, follows the sound to its source. To his parents' room.

He carefully avoid the creaks in the floor as he gets closer, dust particles lighting up from the stray moonlight beams that peek through the gaps in their boarded up windows. And when he gets there, so slowly, too slowly, he realises the door is open. It is like permission is granted to him. And Sasuke, with an air of naïve hope that his parents are better he pushes open their bedroom door, eyes widening as he taken in the sight of

their mangled corpses

their blood shot eyes

their detached heads

and the sight of his brother standing over them – their corpses- with a shovel in his hand, bloodied.

And it is when Sasuke lunges at his brother with an anguished cry, it is then that he knows his world has truly dissolved into hell.

* * *

 **A/N: YOU GUYS Naruto keeps stealing my attention I NEED HELP. Also, if some of you may have noticed, this is heavily inspired by Charlie Higson's The Fear series, which is absolutely incredible, so if you've read it, you may have some idea of what's to come ;D Hopefully I can stick with my inspiration *knock on wood* and see this story to the end. Anywho, see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Rainy Day

"Aw man, this sucks."

An eight year old boy stands in the wreck of a burning city, diseased corpses hidden within rotten houses and looks up at the open sky, as if the overcast clouds and gentle rain is to blame for what his world has become.

The all encompassing drizzle slowly soaks into his hair, weighing it down to the slight pout on his face as he looks back down to survey the car he was trying to break into. The key he found earlier doesn't fit this one either, and Naruto will be damned if he has to walk another five miles in this not so deserted city. Naruto almost wishes that he had turned to delinquency in the eight short years of his life so he'd have at least half a clue as to how to hot-wire a car, but hindsight is 20/20. So instead he gives one last half hearted tug at the car door, and when it doesn't move under his measly strength, he sighs and continues on walking in the way of the mall.

A slight gust of wind blows at him and he pulls his parka up to shield him from it, not so subtly wishing he had packed more when he had decided to up and leave the orphanage. But really, he can't be blamed that he didn't pack much and simply stuffed what he could into his bag upon finding Sarah (the nice lady who would always slip him a little extra at dinner) munching on a child's face. That was enough for him, thank you very much, so he took his coat and boots and the bag he had hidden under his bed that he'd packed if he ever decided that the orphanage was too much for him. Thankfully, Naruto's ill thought out plan of escaping that place which would have failed in any normal occasion had probably saved his life more than once in this case.

So instead of moping further and dragging his feet, he instead steps a little faster, a little lighter as he keeps an eye out for any threats that could emerge from the houses and side streets. In this one case, walking on the street may be the safest thing to do. Naruto's realising that many things which wouldn't normally be safe are much safer in comparison to the alternatives now. Grim thoughts force him to grip just that little bit tighter on his backpack straps as he jumps up onto the curb to the plaza area, cursing the rotten summer weather but glad that it is summer all he same. He doesn't think he would've lasted as long if it had been winter.

Shorts are really a terrible attire choice.

He comes to a stop, dread unfurling in his stomach as the steel and glass building looms above him. A shopping centre that would have been innocuous at any other time fills him with fear. _How many people must have been in there where the virus broke out?_ Naruto thinks it's a virus at least, or his parents would have risen from their graves worse for wear and just as hungry, but in the cemetery he passed by there are no upturned graves and nothing out of place. Going into such a large place daunts him, but all of the smaller stores were barricaded early on into the breakout, and he can already see an opening where a bit of the door was smashed in, with darkness inside beckoning him.

Naruto wants to move on, he really does, but his stomach growls in protest, knowing that it's been days since his first full meal. With weary acceptance and no undue amount of caution, he pulls his hood over his head, and shimmies through the gap in the door, being careful not to let any of the glass scratch him or his clothes.

It is a bit anticlimactic when he comes in, walking up the escalator and arriving to a silent and empty mall. No zombies tearing into people, no screams or massive bloodstains anywhere, just a bit of broken glass and a whole lot of silence. That somehow makes it all the worse.

He is pathetically glad that there is a lot of glass ceilings above him, letting in all of the weak light that the sun can force through the clouds to illuminate the shopping area. Naruto's shoes squeak against the marble floor as he explores the mall, his first time actually being here instead of just zooming by it on a bus. He walks by the displays of mannequins, creepy as ever in their still poses, displaying ostentatious clothes that wouldn't fit him anyway.

In the end, he ends up getting lost three times before he finds what he came here for. Naruto's half tempted to get on one knee and cry out as if he's just found the holy grail if he didn't know that the sound would attract all the zombies there.

Ah, Tesco. The saviour of all mankind.

Grinning for the first time in days, Naruto walks into the store and eats the first thing he grabs. A cheese sandwich that should be bad following the expiry date on the packet, but he's currently too hungry to care. Once he munches the sandwich down along with chugging an entire bottle of water, he finally takes into account his surroundings.

 _Skritch._

Oh. Oh dear. That is a bad noise, a very bad noise indeed. From the sound of it it came from the back left of the store. But all is enveloped in darkness, and Naruto doesn't want to risk using his torch unless it spots him. Quietly, ever so quietly, he picks up a foam rounders bat from the sale pile at the front. It won't do much in terms of damage, but it'll push something away at least. He holds the bat in his hands, sweat already forming and making it slippery in his grip.

Naruto quietly makes his way across the tiled floor, stepping over discarded products as he tries his best not to piss himself or drop the bat. Not only would it be incredibly mortifying, even if the things that saw it hardly have half a brain left, but their sense of smell is stupidly good. He figured this out once he had opened a packet of spicy crisps three rooms away, and not too long after something came ambling in, regardless of the fact that he had opened it near silently.

Heart rate and breathing now elevated, Naruto could hardly hear the muffled sounds for the pounding in his ears, trying not to hysterically laugh and cry at the fact that he could die in a Tesco. With false bravado and a tiny scrap of courage the child counted to three in his head, hands tightening around the bat _1...,_ a deep breath in _2...,_ and with one final moments hesitation he swirled on his feet to the isle, _**3!**_ _,_ and swung the raised bat down onto that thing's disgusting-

"NEJI?!"

Naruto had stopped a moment too late, hitting him square on the head but ever so thankful that it was a person and not a zombie.

"Naruto, you bastard! You scared half the life out of me!" Neji vehemently whispers, grey eyes locking onto Naruto in anger, relief, and a tiny bit of resentment as he rubs where he was hit on his head .

"Scared half the life out of you?!" Naruto retorts back at the same volume, "What the heck are you doing back here?"

It's then that he notices Hinata, looking a great amount relieved that there isn't to be a physical fight as she sheepishly rubs the back of her head and points to the canned foods on the shelf, some of which are in her rucksack on the ground.

"Actually trying to survive, unlike you." Neji mutters as he returns to filling up his bag with more food from the shelves. He looks at Naruto after a couple of moments of Naruto standing stock still, which spurs him into motion into finding his own food. Naruto scans through the shelves, picking up some packets of instant ramen, some crackers, cans of soup, peanut butter, some water bottles and a fancy water purifying straw under the summer camping section. They continue through the store like that together, picking up anything they'll need. While Hinata goes for bandages and medicine and Neji for tools, Naruto picks up a couple rolls of toilet paper. Call him vain all you like, but he'll be surviving through this apocalypse with at least a little bit of vanity, thank you. A little bit of experience on the streets goes a long way.

Naruto doesn't know much of Neji and Hinata, only knowing that they're from some prestigious family that was going through financial troubles and so when they would have been sent to private school, they were instead sent to his. He's seen them around of course, but Neji acts arrogantly and Hinata is too shy to do anything other than stare and back away like the shying violet she is. She may only be his cousin, but Naruto once heard Ino running her mouth off about how they all lived together in a super cool mansion on the outskirts of the city. In any case, their wealth doesn't seem to have served them well through this.

Things are relatively peaceful for a while as they sneak out of Tesco and into a camping store where Naruto puts on a pair of trousers when he would have refused any other time earlier, and they pick up some warmer clothes, sleeping bags and better backpacks to put their food in.

Halfway through Naruto gets a wicked idea and throws a rolled up blanket square at Neji's head. There's a soft _oof_ sound and a split second later he's glaring at him, but Naruto just grins and throws another one straight at him. Just when Neji's about to tell him off, Hinata laughs, high and clear and ever so softly and they both stop and stare at her. This causes her to retreated back into her shell, but not before Neji can throw the blanket back at Naruto's unassuming face. This causes a slight blanket war to break out and before they know it even Hinata's joining in, a gentle smile on her face. For just a moment it feels like everything has gone back to normal. For just a second, they can pretend that none of this has happened, that none of the past two weeks ever existed at all.

And then, an almighty

 _ **CRASH**_

as the blanket flies astray and the display of shoes

and pots and pans go tumbling

down

down

down.

There is a moment of silence and sheer terror as they stare silently at what has just happened, the tirades of self hate and blame already surging through Naruto's mind as they slowly come to the dawning comprehension that they are truly and royally fucked. A guttural scream in the distance and they all scramble to pack up their bags, no one saying anything, not a single pointed finger or word of blame and it just makes it all that much worse as Naruto's cheeks become aflame in shame.

They sprint out of the store, uncaring of the sound of their feet smacking against the hard marble floor as they run, as they already know that the zombies are coming to the source of the sound. And as they slowly spill out from the darker stores, Naruto curses himself even harder. Because his life was already a horror film before he joined them. Maybe they had been doing alright, but now he has pulled them down to his level with that stupid stunt, just for a bit of fun.

His breaths are coming out in pants now, cursing himself further that he had packed so much food and water. He knows that they are both necessary, but he is too scrawny to sprint at his previous speedy and carry the amount that he packed. Neji and Hinata seem to be struggling with the same predicament, but none voice their concerns. Not when the diseased are nipping at their heels.

The older ones are slower yet still dangerous, ambling around and reaching out at the children as they move, gunk seeping from their pores and blood from their eyes. Their skin is yellow and flecked with spots that look like they're ready to burst. They are the most diseased, but the slowest, and the easiest to avoid.

It's the younger ones that they need to look out for, the teenagers and the young adults. These ones are fast, their skin clearer and their eyes all the more feral because of it. More and more are behind them now, moving away from the original sound source and following the _slap slap_ of their feet on the floor. No matter what age or how fast or how strong, all of them shy away from the sunlight.

It only rains harder.

"The exit!" Hinata shouts in gasping relief, fear and hope forcing them to run all the faster. But of course, that is when Naruto feels a snag from behind and looks up to find an elderly man grabbing his bag and looking at him dumbly, drool dripping from his mouth as the acrid stench from his breath reaches Naruto.

Time seems to slow. Naruto has never been so close to one before, he has managed to avoid them and keep them at a distance. But now, now he is terrified. The wrinkled face tilts its head as if inspecting something and Naruto cannot move, cannot _**breathe**_ for all that is the life of him. The glazed over eyes lock back onto his and, as if the old zombie has come to a conclusion, the rotting mouth cracks open and moves towards the uncovered spot where his neck meets his shoulder. And Naruto is trembling, crying now, he's sure. He's going to die, here, in front of his schoolmates and there's nothing he can do.

And then there's a **TUG** that pulls at the very fibre of his being and he is thrust forward, a tearing sound from behind him as the key he found earlier that he had put into a sub pocket clatters onto the ground. He dazedly reaches out for it when the arm around his wrist tightens and he is pulled into a sprint again, looking to Neji in shock, whose face is set in stone as they sprint forward, Hinata on the brink of tears like Naruto is.

But instead of stopping, of acknowledging what just happened, what could have happened, they move forward, towards the sunlight, towards the exit, towards safety. They push through the doors with a loud **bang,** or at least, that's what should have happened. Instead, the doors tremble and move a little, but no way near enough to get out. The glass doesn't shatter, and it is only pushed slightly ajar.

They are trapped.

"No, no, come on God dammit!" Naruto outright screams, slamming against the door with all of his strength while Neji just looks lost and Hinata has already started sobbing. To have come to far only to be spat on by fate doesn't make Naruto upset, nor does it make him accepting. No, fate has spat on him far too many times in his life. Fate spat on him when his parents died in a car accident coming home from the hospital when he was born. Fate spat on him when the first orphanage he was in neglected him so badly he turned to the streets for help. Fate spat on him when the day of reckoning came and the virus spread. But instead of being bitter or resentful or sorrowful, he is none of those. No, Naruto is not upset. Naruto is angry, he is enraged, he is downright **PISSED OFF.**

With a battle cry to rival the Gods he slams at the door with all of his strength, causing the door to jut out just a bit more, to leave a gap so that a cool breeze flies by and it it like a balm on his soul. It is no way near enough to quench his fires, but he has hope now. He can do this. He turns to see Neji looking at him in surprise but his focus hones in on the fire extinguisher behind him and he dashes to it, ignoring the zombies closing in on them. He shoves the neck of the extinguisher in the crack, gets behind the extinguisher and pushes it with his legs and with all of his might. Neji and Hinata realise what he's doing and moth move to push on the door, the metal groaning in protest as Naruto haphazardly uses the extinguisher as a pivot.

 _ **SNAP.**_

A piece of metal comes flying off the door, one of the hinges broken and it now lays on a diagonal angle resting against the frame and the other door, enough for them to squeeze through. They are on too much of an adrenaline high to feel much relief as they slip through, though. Hinata goes first at both of their insistence. She is the smallest and after all that has happened Naruto would feel guilty that she and Neji suffered because of his mistakes.

However, it would seem that the day is not through with its surprises for Naruto, as instead of a quick debate as to who should go next, a chorus of groans resound far too closely behind him and he is practically pushed through the door by Neji, a bit of the metal catching on his eyebrow and scratching through it. He is too much in shock to feel the pain or even hear Hinata's scream, as when he turns it is to see Neji fighting off the swarm that has congregated with the foam rounders bat Naruto has hit him with earlier.

He fights with desperation, like a cornered animal, because that is essentially what he is in this case. And they both watch in horror as the swarm gets bigger and bigger, some dropping, most not, as Hinata pounds frantically on the glass. To that, Neji turns for a fraction, gives her one last tearful smile that is hard to not mistake for a grimace, and dives into the crowd, the zombies that would have gone for them turning away from the glass in favour of catching easier prey.

Hinata's scream is soul tearing and Naruto cannot even bring himself to care that it could attract more zombies because he'd deserve it, damn it. It was his fault the rack fell, his fault the zombies came after them and his fault he wasted time when that old zombie grabbed his bag and nearly bit him. Slowly, the crowd of zombies that were near the door disperse and while they cannot bear to bring themselves to see what will be in front of their eyes once the zombies are gone, neither of them move. Instead, Naruto with tears streaming down his cheeks that he cannot feel looks up into the sky.

And it is sunny.

* * *

So it would seem that inspiration struck again - and nearly a month away too! Sorry for the wait, and I hope that I will be able to continue this story (though updates will be infrequent). So? How is it? Do you guys want more gore, more angst, more tension breakers? Lemme know :D


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